Martian Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 (edited) Well after much delay I have finally made a start on the project. The plan is to open as many panels that I have reference on both to get lots more detail into the model and to draw the eye away from some of the kit's inaccuracies by breaking up the out line. One thing that has immediately become apparant isn that my idea that this would involve less work than the road General Melchett has gone down was pants. By cutting out the bay for the sideways looking radar I ensured that the kit supplied cockpit tub won't fit thus necesitating a scratchbuilt cockpit. I have also cut out the starboard equipment bay and the panel for the onboard Palouste starter unit.TSR Joe advises me that XR220 is fitted with this unit. Cutting out the equipment bay necesitates modifying the nose wheel bay to fit, deep joy! Anyway, here are the first pictures........ Martin Edited November 10, 2011 by martin hale Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyT Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted December 1, 2009 Author Share Posted December 1, 2009 Equipment bay boxed in. I feel much better now its been tidied up. On to the Palouste bay next, not tonight trhough I'm done in. Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atdb27 Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Nice project Martin will watch this with interest. Are you doing it in White & 'clean' or a Whif with tanks and things? Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richellis Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 I have very good pics of the cosford TSR2 including the electronic bay, airbrakes, gearbays etc. PM me your e-mail if you want them mailing to you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
general melchett Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 Nice start Martin, certainly the best alternative to cutting the thing up, as you say it will break up the outline and draw the eye away from the problem area....... interesting how modifying one thing leads to a problem with the next!!!...........tell me about it!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted December 2, 2009 Author Share Posted December 2, 2009 (edited) Nice project Martin will watch this with interest. Are you doing it in White & 'clean' or a Whif with tanks and things? Adrian I'm doing XR220 in the white prototype scheme on this kit. the next one will be XR222 with the prototype reconnaisance pack. I then might go on to do an early "what if" scheme with my third kit. If, however, I can scource a 1/72 SAM reconnaissance pack I will do XR222 in 1/72 scale and do the spare 1/48 scale kit as an Empire Test Pilots School "what if" Martin Edited December 2, 2009 by martin hale Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avro683 Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 Good luck with this Martin, will be watching with interest for any ideas I can pinch for my 4! Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted December 3, 2009 Author Share Posted December 3, 2009 Having had today off work I have mostly spent the time swearing at the kit nose undercarriage bay. Having opened up and boxed in the equipment bay it became apparant that there was no way that the kit part would ever fit. So, having grafted the recesses for the nose wheels onto a new bay roof, the rest of the bay was constructed, the Palouste bay boxed in and a new equipment bay to replace the one that got trashed earlier today while trying to make the kit nose wheel bay fit! :shithappens: The master plan is to get all the areas I plan to superdetail cut out and boxed in before commencing the actual detailing process. The way things are going so far it will be a toss up between General Melchett and myself as to who gets through the most plastic card on our projects. Anyone care to open a book on it? Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted December 6, 2009 Author Share Posted December 6, 2009 (edited) Latest update. Being unsatisfied with the quality of my modelling of the cockpit bulkheads I decided to replace them. The fit is now better than the picture shows as the fuselage is not taped together. I have also opened up the fuselage vents and made a start on the bomb bay and main wheel wells. I have drilled out lightening holes in the frames and filled the holes in ther bomb bay walls. Although on test fitting this unit seems to be a good fit, some genius has placed a load of ejector pin marks on all the detailed surfaces rather than on the rear surfaces which will never be seen and are as smooth as a baby's bottom (which is more than can be said for my bottom!). This is going to result in a very difficult filling operation to lose them without destroying detail. The inside of the bombay walls are devoid of any detail and will need some adding to make this area look convincing. Martin Edited December 6, 2009 by martin hale Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted December 9, 2009 Author Share Posted December 9, 2009 A bit more progress, trouble is life keeps getting in the way of modelling so not as much as I would have liked. I replaced the observer's instrument panel as the fit of the kit one is poor with gaps round the edge. I have also built new side consols and begun opening appropriate holes in the cocpit bulkheads and equipment bay walls. Day off tomorrow so with a bit of luck I will be able to gat a good session in; famous last words! Incidently I have noticed a large drop down door to the rear of the main undercarriage bays. Does anyone have any idea of what the inside of this bay looks like? Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richellis Posted December 9, 2009 Share Posted December 9, 2009 Hi, Its in the pic link Ive sent (Pic 052) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted December 9, 2009 Author Share Posted December 9, 2009 Hi,Its in the pic link Ive sent (Pic 052) Great picture but whats behind the panel? Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richellis Posted December 9, 2009 Share Posted December 9, 2009 (edited) I think its just an air brake. I prob wont get there for a look before christmas. Edited December 9, 2009 by richellis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skii Posted December 9, 2009 Share Posted December 9, 2009 Nice work Martin, some good clean surgery going on there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted December 10, 2009 Author Share Posted December 10, 2009 Thanks Ski. I'm putting a lot of effort into getting the various openings in the kit just right before I start throwing a load of expensive after market extras at it. I have an obsession for neatness in modelling as in my opinion a model is only as good as the sum total of its parts. Therefore, try and treat every part and procedure as a project in its own right. This does mean that progrss can appear slow at times but in this case it is a labour of love so I don't really mind how long it takes so long as I end up with a good looking TSR2. BTW my wife says its a pity that this obsession for tidyness does not extend to the rest of my life! Still you can't have it all can you? Working on the IP and coaming next. If I canget the coaming correctly facetted, drop the IP down a bit and raise the windscreen to its correct height I think this will improve the look of this area of the kit no end. Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted December 11, 2009 Author Share Posted December 11, 2009 (edited) Today I have been wrestling with reshaping the cockpit coaming and getting the cockpit sills raised so that the windscreen will fit properly. I thought it would be a breeze but it ended up driving me to drink! Still it all looks OK now so on to the next can of worms at the weekend. This kit is beginning to send me potty; no matter nobdy on this forum will notice the difference anyway. Martin Edited December 11, 2009 by martin hale Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted December 12, 2009 Author Share Posted December 12, 2009 Felt like doing something a bit more constructive today as opposed to the seemingly endless hacking of bits off the kit. With that in mind I decided to start putting the equipment bay racking in place. I shall make the various boxes a a later date when I get onto the fine detailing stage. Martin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 Brave build you are making there Martin, haven't seen it until now but will be tuning in for updates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted December 17, 2009 Author Share Posted December 17, 2009 (edited) A short update: progress has been a bit limited this week due assorted domestic crisies. However I have managed to add some slivers of plastic card to part 25B of the kit, the fairing forward of the wing. This is one of the few poorly fitting main parts of the kit as it sits too low to meet the upper wing and fuselage. A sliver or two of plastic at the front and back raises this part to the correct level. Another area that requires attention is the rear bulkhead of the main undercarriage bays, this has gaps up yo 1/8 inch wide around it and needs attention for two reasons. Firstly, even with the undercarriage legs in place the gap is obvious. Secondly, if I do get enough information to detail the bays behind the undercarriage I wont be wanting a see through look. I hope to get this and some more of the cockpit details tackled tomorrow on my day off. On the whole though a dry run shows the bulk of the kit to be very good fitwise. Martin Edited December 17, 2009 by martin hale Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 I'm liking this Martin, well done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 Hard work but sure it'll be worth it once you get to put such a detailed model on the display shelf Martin. Will tune in again tomorrow evening to catch your progress Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avro683 Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 That's great work Martin. A friend of mine produced some blanking plates for me to cure the "see through" effect. He doesn't know it yet but he's giong to produce three more sets for my others! Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted December 17, 2009 Author Share Posted December 17, 2009 Right today's update. I managed to get the rear walls of the main wheel wells sorted out as shown in the accompanying pictures. This took longer than anticipated so I only managed to get a little bit more done on the rear cockpit. Still theres always the weekend. I have established that the bay aft of the main wheel wells contained the engine accessory gearbox. Anybody out there know what this item looks like on a Bristol Olympus? I would imagine that the Concorde items are pretty much similar. Sorry about the quality of some of the pictures but I seem to be having the Devil's own job trying to photograph white plastic card on the white kit plastic. Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted December 22, 2009 Author Share Posted December 22, 2009 Latest progress: I finished the basic configuring of the cockpit layouts and decided to open up the port engine accessory bay. Thats going well but this evening I discovered that the upper airbrake inserts don't fit. More scratch building. I don't know why but this discovery has left me somewhat discouraged. I thought I was about to get onto the interesting detailing bit. Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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